Spin coupling in zigzag Wigner crystals

Abstract

We consider interacting electrons in a quantum wire in the case of a shallow confining potential and low electron density. In a certain range of densities, the electrons form a two-row (zigzag) Wigner crystal whose spin properties are determined by nearest and next-nearest neighbor exchange as well as by three- and four-particle ring exchange processes. The phase diagram of the resulting zigzag spin chain has regions of complete spin polarization and partial spin polarization in addition to a number of unpolarized phases, including antiferromagnetism and dimer order as well as a novel phase generated by the four-particle ring exchange.

12 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Magnetic impurity formation in quantum point contacts
• Ballistic transport in induced one-dimensional hole systems
• Spin exchange in quantum rings and wires in the Wigner-crystal limit

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Wigner crystal physics in quantum wires
• Incipient Formation of an Electron Lattice in a Weakly-Confined Quantum Wire
• Row coupling in an interacting quasi-one-dimensional quantum wire investigated using transport measurements
• Strong-Coupling Phases of Frustrated Bosons on a 2-leg Ladder with Ring Exchange
• 0.7 Structure and Zero Bias Anomaly in Ballistic Hole Quantum Wires
• Magnetic Phase Diagram of Spin-1/2 Two-Leg Ladder with Four-Spin Ring Exchange
• Magnetism of one-dimensional Wigner lattices and its impact on charge order